Berta Pappenheim better known as "Anna O" was the first patient of psychoanalysis. Freud made her the most famous hysterical woman in history.

This became known as the Anna O case and became the beginning of a century-long dispute between psychoanalysis and feminism over the meaning of femininity.

First of all, Berta Pappenheim was born on February 27, 1859, in Vienna as the third daughter of Recha and Zygmunt Pappenheim.

Her two older sisters died in infancy, so she grew up in a wealthy Jewish family that had been in the grain trade for two generations.

Understanding the Anna O. Case

Anna O. was the pseudonym attributed to Bertha Pappenheim Although there are scholars who comment that the case was passed on to Freud, what is known is that Breuer alone did this treatment (without Freud). This information is confirmed by Freud in his autobiography. Nevertheless, the book is a collaboration between Freud and Breuer, and the otherscases in the work are attributed to Freud.

Berta Pappenheim was Jewish and German, recognized for her strong personality. She led social movements for human, civil, and political rights in defense of women.

When he was around 20 years old, he suffered from his father's long terminal illness. This factor added to the stresses of childhood. This generated a condition called hysteria This left her with symptoms such as depression, nervousness, suicidal thoughts, paralysis and muscle contractures in parts of her body, and visual disturbances, among other symptoms. This virtually crippled her.

Although the treatment conducted by Breuer was of the phase of the cathartic method and hypnosis techniques This is because this treatment (like others in the "Studies") involved a growing space for the patient to speak, which would be the keynote of the free association method Anna O. (Bertha) herself called the treatment "healing through speech".

Ana O's father's illness

In July 1880, her father became ill. Although the family could afford a nurse, tradition dictated that nursing responsibilities be divided between the wife and daughter.

So Recha would stay with the patient during the day, while 21-year-old Berta would stay on call with her father at night.

Thus, it turned his life into a nightmare of insomnia through constant contact with an incurable disease.

Beginning of Anna O's illness

Above all, it is believed that this is when Berta's illness began. However, feminist biographers of this character emphasize that the sources of the illness occurred much earlier.

In other words, when she, at sixteen, had to finish her studies and start the monotonous life of a girl waiting to be married in her parents' bourgeois home.

According to Dr. Joseph Breuer, Anna O. had a remarkable intelligence, was capable of incredibly complicated mental combinations and sharp intuition.

It is not a disease, but a symptom

In 1885, Freud received a grant to spend several months in the clinic of Charcot, who at that time created a functional scientific community around him.

Freud dealt mainly with hysteria in women and tried to scientifically substantiate his intuition that the cause of hysteria was a psychologically determined sexual dysfunction.

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In this way, it was not so much a disease as a symptom. At this point, the psychoanalytic understanding of hysteria coincides with the views of feminists for whom hysteria is also not a disease but a defense.

Freud's Theory

In time, Freud's intuition resulted in a theory that links hysteria primarily to unresolved conflicts of early childhood, mainly based on fantasy or incestuous experiences.

In his practice and reflection, Freud often returned to the story of Anna O that Breuer told him in 1882 and 1883.

At a certain point, Breuer became the only person Berta still recognized. He accompanied her mainly as a listener.

The theory of psychoanalysis did not yet exist, and its method was just being tested by the patient and the experimental physician. The means of reaching the unconscious paranormal at this stage in the history of psychoanalysis was hypnosis.

From hypnosis to healing through speech, the Anna O case

The Pappenheims' daughter was naturally hypnotized. In the second half of the day, her consciousness lost its intensity, until finally it was so diluted that Berta fell into a kind of trance that she called "clouds".

In this semi-conscious state, she discovered the source of his symptoms. The situation was urgent as the patient gradually stopped talking.

Bruer helps Ana O to speak again

Breuer intuitively guessed that Berta Pappenheim was therefore defending herself from saying something essential, and urged her to overcome her resistance. As a result of these efforts, speech returned, but in the English language.

Later, Berta also used French and Italian alternately, often making quick, simultaneous translations of her statements into two or three foreign languages simultaneously.

Berta's condition worsens

Berta's father died in April 1881, which temporarily worsened her condition. Later, Berta's illness alternated with normal states, but a cluster of symptoms persisted until around December 1881.

Squirming in pain, Berta was about to exclaim, "Dr. Breuer's baby is coming into the world!"

Such a statement was perceived as a moral scandal and frightened Breuer to such an extent that he immediately stopped visiting the Pappenheims by passing the troublesome patient on to a friend.

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Freud disapproved of Breuer's decision, who he believed had defected at a crucial moment.

Later, Berta received treatment in many sanatoriums, until in 1888, six years after Breuer's surrender, she and her mother moved permanently to Frankfurt. She was then 29 years old.

Changes in Anna O's life

Frankfurt was a new stage in her life. She began by publishing her fairy tales and short stories under the pseudonym Paul Berthold, and later also articles and a play about the social situation of women.

In 1899, as Paul Berthold, she translated Mary Wollstonecraft's "Vindication of the Rights of Women" into German.

Encouraged to do so by her mother's relatives, she lived with the affairs of the Frankfurt Jewish community while becoming increasingly involved in the activities of the German women's movement.

Important years for Berta

In 1890, she organized a kitchen for refugees from the East. Later, in 1895, she took over the leadership of a Jewish orphanage and founded Weibliche Fuersorge a community caring for the poor in 1902.

In the year 1904, she founded the nationwide Juedischen Frauenbund (Union of Jewish Women) and on behalf of this organization, as its president and delegate, she participated in several women's congresses.

In early 1917, she became a leading activist at the center of Jewish welfare in Germany and devoted much of her personal wealth to social work.

Final considerations

Berta died on May 28, 1936 in Frankfurt. The house she founded in Neu Isenburg was closed by the Nazis in 1942 and all the women still there were deported to Auschwitz.

It is hard to believe that this is the same person who in Vienna at the end of the century tormented herself and her surroundings with fits of hysteria.

Anna's courage and drive visible in her social activities are more than enough to show a healthy psyche You can find the Anna case in Freud's complete works if you want to know more about this case.

We have prepared this article with great care for you to dive into the psychoanalytic stories according to Freud. We invite you to deepen your knowledge by taking the online course on psychoanalysis. In this way, you will enjoy enriching your knowledge on this deep subject.